Acquisition system for distributed computing resources

• US 20050228855A1
• Filed: 03/16/2005
• Published: 10/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Kawato, Masahiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,024,740 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0863 by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element

Abstract

In a resource acquisition system, computing resources are located in different domains, and a resource manager is located in each domain. A scheduler receives a resource acquisition request from a client via a network, and determines at least one administrative domain and transmits to the network a verification request specifying a computing resource and an operation. The resource manager is responsive to the verification request for performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation and verifying that the resource is legitimately reconfigurable, and transmitting back to the scheduler a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource. The scheduler is responsive to the verification report for transmitting a reconfiguration request to the resource manager to perform reconfiguration on the verified resource. The scheduler and the resource manager may repeatedly exchange verification requests and verification reports for successively reconfiguring each successive resource according to dependent relationships between computing resources.

Claims

1. A resource manager comprising:

verification mechanism, responsive to a verification request, for reconfiguring a computing resource, verifying that said computing resource is reconfigurable if the reconfigured resource is legitimately accessible, and formulating a verification report containing the identifier of the verified computing resource; and

reconfiguration mechanism, responsive to a reconfiguration request which is formulated in response to said verification report, for reconfiguring said verified computing resource.

2. The resource manager of claim 1, wherein said verification mechanism performs an ownership check on the reconfigured resource to verify said computing resource.

3. The resource manager of claim 1, wherein the verification mechanism is responsive to said verification request for creating a resource status table comprising a plurality of resource entries each containing a current state and a new state, and

wherein said reconfiguration mechanism updates said current state with said new state when said verified computing resource is reconfigured.

4. The resource manager of claim 3, wherein said verification mechanism performs an ownership check on said computing resource based on identifiers contained in the current and new states of the entry of said computing resource to verify said computing resource.

5. The resource manager of claim 1, further comprising a resource database, wherein said verification mechanism selects candidate computing resources from said resource database in response to said verification request, assigns scores to said candidate computing resources, and selects said computing resource from the candidate computing resources according to said scores.

6. The resource manager of claim 1, wherein said reconfiguration mechanism performs a rollback operation on said verified computing resource if the verified computing resource cannot successfully be reconfigured.

7. A resource acquisition system comprising:

a communications network;

a first entity, connected to said network, for receiving a resource acquisition request from a client terminal, determining at least one location of computing resources indicated in said resource acquisition request, and transmitting to said at least one determined location a verification request specifying a resource and an operation; and

a second entity, connected to said network in said determined location, for receiving said verification request and performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation and verifying that said resource is reconfigurable if the reconfigured resource is legitimately accessible, and transmitting back to said first entity a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource,

said first entity being responsive to said verification report for transmitting to said second entity a reconfiguration request to perform said reconfiguration on the verified resource.

8. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein said first entity and said second entity repeatedly exchange said verification request and said verification report for successively reconfiguring each of a plurality of computing resources according to hierarchically dependent relationships that exist between the successively reconfigured computing resources.

9. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein said second entity performs an ownership check on the reconfigured resource to verify that the reconfigurable resource is legitimately accessible.

11. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein the second entity creates a resource status table comprising a plurality of resource entries each containing a current state and a new state, and updates said current state with said new state when said verified resource is reconfigured.

12. The resource acquisition system of claim 11, wherein said second entity performs an ownership check based on identifiers contained in the current and new states of said resource status table to verify that said specified resource is legitimately accessible.

13. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein said second entity assigns scores to a plurality of candidate computing resources and selects said computing resource from the candidate resources according to said scores.

14. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein said second entity performs a rollback operation on a verified computing resource if reconfiguration is not successfully performed on the specified resource.

15. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein said second entity transmits a failure report to said first entity if said reconfiguration fails, and wherein said first entity is responsive to said failure report for transmitting a cancellation request to said second entity for canceling a previously transmitted verification request.

16. The resource acquisition system of claim 7, wherein said first entity generates a workflow in response to a resource acquisition request for describing multiple groups of resource operation pairs, said groups being associated with each other in hierarchically dependent relationships, and updates said workflow when reconfiguration is performed on each of the specified resources on a group-by-group basis.

17. A resource acquisition system comprising:

a communications network;

a plurality of distributed computing resources located in a plurality of administrative domains;

a plurality of resource managers respectively located in said administrative domains and connected to said network, each resource manager performing management of the computing resources located in the same domain as the resource manager; and

a scheduler connected to said network for receiving a resource acquisition request from a client terminal via said network, determining at least one administrative domain and transmitting to said network a verification request specifying a computing resource and an operation, at least one of said resource managers being responsive to said verification request for performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation and verifying that the resource is legitimately reconfigurable, and transmitting back to said scheduler a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource, said scheduler being responsive to said verification report for transmitting a reconfiguration request to said at least one resource manager to perform said reconfiguration on the verified resource.

18. The resource acquisition system of claim 17, wherein said scheduler and said at least one resource manager repeatedly exchange said verification request and said verification report for reconfiguration of each of a plurality of computing resources.

19. The resource acquisition system of claim 17, wherein said at least one resource manager performs an ownership check on the reconfigured computing resource to verify that the resource is legitimately accessible.

20. The resource acquisition system of claim 17, wherein said at least one resource manager creates a resource status table comprising a plurality of resource entries each containing a current state and a new state, and updates said current state with said new state when said verified resource is reconfigured.

21. The resource acquisition system of claim 17, wherein said at least one resource manager assigns scores to candidate computing resources and selects said computing resource from the candidate resources according to said scores.

22. The resource acquisition system of claim 17, wherein said at least one resource manager performs a rollback operation if reconfiguration is not successfully performed on the verified resource.

23. The resource acquisition system of claim 17, wherein said at least one resource manager transmits a failure report to said scheduler if said reconfiguration fails, wherein said scheduler is responsive to said failure report for transmitting a cancellation request to said at least one resource manager for canceling a previously transmitted verification report.

24. The resource acquisition system of claim 23, wherein said scheduler generates a workflow in response to a resource acquisition request for describing multiple groups of resource operation pairs, said groups being associated with each other in hierarchically dependent relationships, and updates said workflow when reconfiguration is performed on each of the specified resources on a group-by-group basis.

25. A method of performing reconfiguration on distributed computing resources, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a verification request specifying a successive group of resource operation pairs and performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation;

b) verifying that said specified resource is reconfigurable if the reconfigured resource is legitimately accessible;

c) formulating a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource; and

d) receiving a reconfiguration request, which is formulated in response to said verification report, and performing reconfiguration of the verified resource.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein steps (a), (b) and (c) are repeated to reconfigure a plurality of resources according to hierarchically dependent relationships between said resources.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein step (a) further comprises the step of excluding a computing resource which was not previously verified in step (b) from candidate resources.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein step (b) comprises the step of performing an ownership check on the reconfigured resource to determine if the reconfigured resource is legitimately accessible.

29. A method of performing reconfiguration on distributed computing resources, comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a verification request and selecting a computing resource according to the received request;

b) making a reference to a resource database, performing reconfiguration of the referenced resource and verifying that the referenced resource is legitimately reconfigurable if accessibility to the reconfigured resource is established;

c) transmitting a verification report containing the resource identifier of the reconfigurable resource; and

d) receiving a reconfiguration request containing said resource identifier and updating said resource database with said resource identifier.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein steps (a), (b) and (c) are repeated to reconfigure a plurality of resources according to hierarchically dependent relationships between said resources.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein step (a) further comprises the step of excluding a computing resource which was not previously verified in step (b) from candidate computing resources maintained in said resource database.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein step (b) comprises the step of performing an ownership check on said computing resource to determine if said specified operation can be legitimately performed on said computing resource.

33. A resource acquisition method comprising the steps of:

a) at a first location, transmitting a verification request specifying each group of multiple reconfiguration groups of resource operation pairs;

b) at a second location, receiving the verification request and performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation;

c) at said second location, verifying that said specified resource is reconfigurable if said resource can be legitimately accessible;

d) at said second location, formulating a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource and transmitting the verification report to said first location;

e) at said first location, receiving the verification report and transmitting a reconfiguration request to said second location; and

f) at said second location, receiving the reconfiguration request and performing reconfiguration of the verified resource.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein said plurality of computing resources and said plurality of operations are divided into a plurality of successive reconfiguration groups of resource operation pairs, said successive groups of both computing resources and operations being associated in a hierarchically dependent relationship with each other,

wherein step (a) comprises the steps of formulating, at said first location, each one of a plurality of said verification requests corresponding to each of said successive groups of computing resources and transmitting each of said verification requests to said second location,

wherein step (b) comprises the steps of receiving each of the verification requests and performing the specified operations on the specified computing resources,

wherein step (c) comprises the step of verifying that said computing resources specified in each of the received requests are reconfigurable if said operations were legitimately performed, and

wherein step (d) comprises the step of formulating said verification report for each of said verification requests if the specified operations were successfully performed on said computing resources.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein step (c) comprises the step of performing an ownership check on each of the reconfigured computing resources to determine if each of said specified operations can be legitimately performed.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein step (c) comprises the step of performing said ownership check by using an access control list.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein step (d) further comprises the step of creating, at said second location, a resource status table for mapping a current state of each of the reconfigured computing resources and a new state of the computing resources when the specified operations are legitimately performed on the computing resources, and

wherein step (f) comprises the steps of receiving, at said second location, the reconfiguration request for reconfiguring each of the computing resources according to the new state of the computing resource and updating the current state of the computing resource with the new state of the computing resource.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of performing an ownership check on each of said computing resources based on identifiers contained in the current and new states of the computing resource to determine if said specified operations can be legitimately performed.

39. The method of claim 33, wherein step (c) comprises the steps of assigning scores to said candidate computing resources and selecting said group of computing resources from the candidate resources according to said scores.

40. The method of claim 33, wherein step (f) comprises the step of performing a rollback operation on a verified computing resource if at least one of the specified operations cannot successfully be performed.

41. The method of claim 33, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting a failure report from said second location to said first location if at least one of said operations was not successfully performed;

receiving, at said first location, said failure report and transmitting a cancellation request to said second location; and

receiving, at said second location, said cancellation request and canceling a verification request maintained in a memory as corresponding to the received cancellation request.

42. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program for performing reconfiguration on distributed computing resources, said program comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a verification request specifying a successive group of resource operation pairs and performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation;

b) verifying that said specified resource is reconfigurable if the reconfigured resource is legitimately accessible;

c) formulating a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource; and

d) receiving a reconfiguration request, which is formulated in response to said verification report, and performing reconfiguration of the verified resource.

43. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program for performing reconfiguration on distributed computing resources, said program comprising the steps of:

a) receiving a verification request and selecting a computing resource according to the received request;

b) making a reference to a resource database, performing reconfiguration of the referenced resource and verifying that the referenced resource is legitimately reconfigurable if accessibility to the reconfigured resource is established;

c) transmitting a verification report containing the resource identifier of the reconfigurable resource; and

d) receiving a reconfiguration request containing said resource identifier and updating said resource database with said resource identifier.

44. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program for performing reconfiguration on distributed computing resources, said program comprising the steps of:

a) at a first location, transmitting a verification request specifying each group of multiple reconfiguration groups of resource operation pairs;

b) at a second location, receiving the verification request and performing reconfiguration of the specified resource according to the specified operation;

c) at said second location, verifying that said specified resource is reconfigurable if said resource can be legitimately accessible;

d) at said second location, formulating a verification report containing the identifier of the reconfigurable resource and transmitting the verification report to said first location;

e) at said first location, receiving the verification report and transmitting a reconfiguration request to said second location; and

f) at said second location, receiving the reconfiguration request and performing reconfiguration of the verified resource.